FORT MORGAN, Alabama -- The Battle of Mobile Bay was the first instance where war was engaged with rifled guns, explosive shells, iron ships, revolving turrets and mines.

A Mobile Register article from April 1994 took a close look at the history of the battle. Stephen R. Mallory, the Confederate secretary of the Navy, wrote in a report to the Confederate Congress that Mobile Bay was the first battle in naval history that tested the "modern and improved means of naval warfare, offensive and defensive..."

Frank M. Bennett, a naval officer during the transition from sail to steam, wrote that Mobile Bay was, "the most sanguinary and important naval battle of the Civil War."